KRUZISTAN, a province in the extreme S.W. corner of Persia, between lat. 30° and 32° 30' N., and long. 48° 51' E., bounded in the N. by Luristan and the Bakhtiari mountains, on the S. by the province of Fars and the Persian Gulf, and on the W. by the Shat-ul-Arab and the pashalik of Baghdad. For administrative purposes it is divided under the rule of the. Shaikh of the Chab Arabs, and of that of Shus'ter. Shuster is the capital. It has several khor inlets. Its principal rivers are the Karun, Dizful, Jurahi, and Kerkhah. The population consists chiefly of nomade tribes dwelling in tents. In the north are Feili, Bakhtiari, Kohgelu, and Matnaseni, and in the south are the Arab tribes, Anafijiah, Ali Kathir, Chab, and Beni Lam, pastoral and agri cultural, and weavers of cotton and woollen fabrics. Its chief towns are Shuster, Dizful, Ram Hormuz, and Fellabiah.
The Shuster people are not wealthy, live in stone-built houses, in which there are sard-ab or underground rooms for retreat in summer, and some houses have the areesh or open room on the roof. Several of the khor have been at times supposed to have been mouths of the Euphrates. Khor Muso is deep, that of Lusbah
is close to the Jurahi, and there is one near Sarema, on the banks of the Indian, rather west ward of the borders. The inland khor are those near the towns of Dorak and Mohammerah ; one still more extensive is formed by the overflowing of the river Kerah at the town of Hawiza ; and lastly, the Samidah marshes above Kurna, which appear to be part of the ancient Chaldman lake.
Khuzistan is also called Arabistan, and repre sents the Susiana of Strabo, as well as the Cissia of Herodotus. The celebrated ruins of ancient Sus are near a bend of the Kerkhah. In the bed of the Ah-i-balad, a torrent of ancient Susiana, which falls into the Dizful, a small fossil shell occurs which is in request for the mouthpiece of the nargil pipe, under the name of Sang-i-Birinj or rice stone.—/I-farkhant's Embassy, p. 2; Ouse ley's Travels, i. p. 148; Chesney's Euphrates and Tigris, p. 205 ; .Mignan's Travels, p. 294 ; Mac Gregor; Layard.